653: Fear Free Tools for Pet Sitters and Dog Walkers with Melissa Spooner-Raymond
Hello, World!
Time to Pet. Go to timetopet.com/confessional for 50% off your first 3 months.
Pet Perennials- Visit: https://petperennials.com/pages/register-for-a-business-account.
Fear Free Certification for taking the ‘pet’ out of ‘petrified’. Get 10% off the with promo code PSC10.
What does it really mean to be Fear Free certified as a pet sitter or dog walker? In this episode, Collin talks with Melissa Spooner-Raymond, a licensed veterinary technician and veterinary behavior specialist with Fear Free, about practical ways to reduce fear, anxiety, and stress for pets in our care. They explore reading body language, setting realistic goals for each visit, and using “the three Fs”—food, fun, and favorites—to create positive associations. Melissa shares real-world scenarios, from cautious chows to under-socialized COVID pets, offering strategies for short visits and multi-staff teams. The conversation highlights how consistency, documentation, and collaboration with the pet’s wider care team can transform both the pet’s experience and the sitter’s safety.
Main topics:
Reading and respecting pet body language
Applying the “three Fs” to build trust
Strategies for short, time-limited visits
Multi-staff consistency and SOPs
Collaborating with the pet’s full care team
Main takeaway: “Stop and assess and watch—what is that animal trying to communicate?”
So often, our love for animals makes us want to rush in, but the best care starts with observation. Every ear twitch, tail flick, or subtle shift tells a story about how that pet is feeling. When we slow down, we can adapt our approach to meet them where they are—turning fear into trust. As pet sitters and dog walkers, we aren’t just completing a task; we’re building a relationship, one respectful moment at a time.
About our guestMelissa is a passionate and skilled professional with a rich background in the animal care industry. Her experience spans general veterinary medicine, behavioral specialty medicine, and nonprofit organizations, where she has held a variety of roles supporting pets and their people. She holds an Associate of Applied Animal Science and is a Veterinary Technician Specialist in Behavior, a Certified Training Partner through Karen Pryor Academy, an Elite Fear Free Certified Veterinary Professional, and a TAGteach Certified Practitioner. Driven by a deep commitment to making a difference, Melissa strives to create meaningful, positive impacts for animals and their human companions through education and advocacy in veterinary behavior and training.
Links:
Fear Free Pets: https://fearfreepets.com
Fear Free Happy Homes: https://fearfreehappyhomes.com
Give us a call! (636) 364-8260
Follow us on: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter
Subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, & TuneIn
Email us at: feedback@petsitterconfessional.com
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by our guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Pet Sitter Confessional, its hosts, or sponsors. We interview individuals based on their experience and expertise within the pet care industry. Any statements made outside of this platform, or unrelated to the topic discussed, are solely the responsibility of the guest.
A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Fear Free, animal behavior, veterinary technician, body language, positive associations, fear reduction, emotional well-being, pet care, training certification, veterinary program, pet sitter, dog walker, client communication, fear management, animal care
SPEAKERS
Collin Funkhouser, Melissa Spooner-Raymond
Collin Funkhouser 00:00
Hey, practically, what does it mean to be fear free as a dog walker or pet sitter? That's what we talk about today, everything from understanding body language, setting realistic expectations, using the 3f and always creating those positive associations. This is Pet Sitter confessional, an open and honest discussion about life as a pet sitter. This episode is brought to you by our friends at time to pet and pet perennials. This episode is also eligible for one CEU from both naps and psi. Listen to the episode, click the link in the show notes, take the quiz, get the certificate and earn that today. Today, we are really excited to have Melissa Spooner, Raymond with fear free, actually on the show to talk about these aspects and more about the program and some scenarios that we should be aware of, and actually had a walk through these. So Melissa, I'm really excited to dive into this with you today and have you on the show for those who aren't familiar with you, could you please tell us a little bit more about who you are, what you do with fear free, and kind of more about your background too.
Melissa Spooner-Raymond 01:01
Hi, Collin, thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here too, and I love fear free so much. And I love talking about fear free, so I'm happy to go on and on about this subject that I love so much. So as you discussed, I am Melissa Spooner, Raymond, and I am, at my core, a licensed veterinary technician. I've actually been certified as a technician for over 25 years. I also have a specialty degree called a veterinary technician specialty, specifically in animal behavior. I also have a training certification through Karen Pryor Academy as a certified training partner as well. So if you're not sure about my title, I'm all things animal behavior and veterinary behavior put together before I got licensed, though. However, I started way back in the day, actually, probably as a little kid, I think I was probably 11 or 12, and I started putting flyers in my neighbor's mailboxes, and I decided that I was going to be a dog walker, and I actually started getting clients in the neighborhood. And I think that was very early stages of loving this field, having a passion for what we do, and just growing from there, I've been fortunate enough to spend time in just about every single role other than being a veterinarian, including working at a daycare and boarding facility, doing some pet sitting and working in reception and as a kennel tech, and now as a licensed veterinary technician,
Collin Funkhouser 02:47
a lot there. And so how did you, how did you find your way into working, actually, at fear free?
Melissa Spooner-Raymond 02:53
Yeah, that's a great question. So back in the years of 2014 2015 that's when fear free was really starting to be developed and coming together. And the goal was, is that different professionals from different fields were being pulled together to develop the course content. And at that time, it was strictly a veterinary program. It didn't branch out to other pet professionals as well. So that included anywhere from behavior experts to anesthesiologist and dermatologist and you name it. All of these professionals came together to develop the course, and I was really fortunate to be chosen as one of those individuals, and I got to help develop our level one core curriculum.
Collin Funkhouser 03:46
Wow. So I know we've talked about fear free a little bit, but what actually is fear free?
Melissa Spooner-Raymond 03:52
Yeah, so at its core, fear free is an educational company, and our whole goal and mission is to reduce fear, anxiety and stress. And I realize that's a mouthful, so you'll often hear us refer to that as F, A, S, and we just know by that our goal is to educate animal care professionals, whether you are a veterinary professional, whether you are working as a pet sitter or other, and we want to give those individuals the knowledge to care for the animals that they're working with. Our founders recognize that a pet's emotional well being was being overlooked, and I can definitely second that as somebody who's been in the field for a very long time and started early, probably two years out of high school, working at a veterinary clinic, and our mission was to get tasked accomplished. Our mission did not focus on the well being of the animal, and there. Experience in our care, but fear free has tipped that on its side. Actually, I think we might have tipped that completely upside down. And we said, Wait a second, there's more to this. We want to make sure that addressing their well being gives them lifelong care, better care, better quality of life, makes it easier on their their owners to bring them in for care that they need. And by creating these positive experiences, we know that we can get there.
Collin Funkhouser 05:33
It is. It is such a different shift. And look at what we're supposed to do of, hey, I need to XYZ. The client asked me to XYZ, and all along, the pet is just kind of over here, sidelined, being forced to be taken for a ride and go along with whatever we're supposed to do. And then we wonder why we have issues, or why things come up, or why, man, the dog doesn't like doing what? Insert name of thing. Why is that? And I because that's a problem we see with a lot of our clients. Of well, my dog used to really love this. We used to love going on walks, going to the groomer or going to the vet, but now they don't anymore, and I think what you have to do is back up and go. But what was the stacking that happened along the way? Right? Let's you know, it could be a five year long process to get a dog where they are exposed to. So you know that fear, anxiety, stress that you talk about is that builds up over time, and that dog learns okay when I see this, okay, these bad things happen. I don't like that, so I'm going to try and communicate this. And if we ignore that, we really put them in a really bad situation, and nobody wins in that.
Melissa Spooner-Raymond 06:38
Absolutely, you said so many good things there, Collin, and I can tell that you are familiar with fear free and that you have gone through our educational program because you talked about so many important things. One thing that you touched on is longevity and experience over periods of time, and this is the perspective that I like to think about. Let's take your average dog, an average dog is going to be with us. You know, 1012, 1314, 15 years. It could be more than that. And so what are those experiences to them over their lifespan? They start out as a youngster, as a young puppy, and maybe they do pretty good for their first visit, but somewhere in there, they're going in for that core group of shots early on, and then typically a spay or a neuter, and we might not see them for another year, and they develop some other Fears during that time as well. So they come back in and how often are good things happening at the veterinary practice? And so subsequently, they learn with each event that this is not a good place to be. Nothing good happens here, and each year that has another impact on them until we get to that point where it's kaboom and they're no longer treatable, and that's what we want to avoid. And while I spoke specifically to a veterinary setting, that is very much true in all animal care settings, whether we are groomers in their subsequent visits to the groomer, and they get quote unquote worse over a period of time, or boarding and daycare. They come in and once upon a time when they were good and and then they're harder to handle at a boarding facility, even for pet sitters as well. And so we want to make sure, number one, if we are starting out with a new animal, we are going to give them the best tools to help them build on and have a successful outcome, so that, as a 15 or 16 year old dog, they're comfortable in their retirement, and they feel like their emotional well being was put first well.
Collin Funkhouser 09:02
So specifically for dog walkers and pet centers, how do you feel like fear free applies to us? Yeah.
Melissa Spooner-Raymond 09:09
So if you think about it, animals typically don't get to plan for these events. We, as people know that we are going to be out of town this week, and we've been planning this great vacation, or we know that each day, at noon, we're going to want to have somebody come over and give our pets a little midday break. But our animals don't get to plan for that. They don't get to plan for somebody that's coming into their safe space, which they perceive as a threat, and so most of these behaviors are very much rooted in fear. And actually that's something that you mentioned just a little bit ago, is that these are fear based behaviors. They were not necessarily going to seek you out, but we came into their. Space, and this is a reaction to that fear. So we encourage individuals like our pet centers and our boarding and daycare caretakers to really rely on reading body language. That's so important. And I think that's one of the things that as people, as pet owners, as pet caretakers, we were not necessarily taught, and I still don't think it's readily being educated to those professionals, which is the entire goal of fear free is to really read body language and understand the emotional state of the animal, also making sure that we're respecting their boundaries and when they are communicating, and if we hear them telling us, No, I'm not comfortable, that we definitely stop and take another action or take another approach. We also want to make sure that we're creating positive associations with each visit as well.
Collin Funkhouser 10:58
That that's really key of we want to make sure this is good. And like how you mentioned that, you know, the pets didn't ask for this. We often talk about, when we talk about for how we are very much a people business in a lot of sense. You know, the person is the one who calls, who has concerns, who has biases. You know, the dogs and cats aren't calling me to be there, which means that they don't expect us when we show up, which means that we're kind of a surprise. And so what can we do in that visit to make that a little calmer and build these good habits? And we often talk about how, what can I do now? They talk about going back to that long term thing of, hey, if I have a good experience with this dog or this cat now in their home, one would expect that that would set them a little bit more up for success, to have a positive experience somewhere else, or they're used to things that we're doing. So there's also this team aspect of okay, if I am working with a pet, I know that they can have a better experience at the groomer or at the trainer or at the Veterinary and so the owner is more likely to continue to take them there. So we're going to have better outcomes with health and longevity and quality of life with that pet for the long term as well.
Melissa Spooner-Raymond 12:05
Absolutely so. As a veterinary behavior professional myself, I do often see clients, and I work with individuals that have animals that have some sort of a special need, whether it's some sort of separation anxiety or whether it is a fear or phobia or reactivity. And one of the animals I work with, I consider him a very special dog, because I and I'm going to tell you a secret Collin, and you can't tell anybody else,
Collin Funkhouser 12:42
nobody, nobody's here.
Melissa Spooner-Raymond 12:45
I have made an exception. I have very limited time. But because his parents are such lovely people, I pet sit for him. And I know, because his tribe of people that he's comfortable with is very, very small. I think his tribe is about three people, that includes mom and dad and myself. The funny thing is, is that when I come in, he's so excited to see me, he jumps all over me, and I have to protect my knees because he's just over excited. But the good thing is, is that it didn't start there. We felt up to that we built our relationship slowly, over a period of time, and I wanted to be very, very mindful of my approach, where I equaled all good things, and that I was very respectful of what he felt comfortable with. This is a dog, and I will say he's a Labrador. And so when most people think of the Labrador, one of the favorite breeds over the United States and really all over the world, they're known for their friendly, buoyant personality, and he loves to be petted with your eyes. He doesn't really want your hands anywhere near him and and so because you want to reach out naturally and pet a dog and interact with him, that's something that feels that doesn't feel comfortable to him. And he uses very subtle body language to demonstrate that fact, and I always was very respectful of that. And what I did was I kind of stayed back, and I just rewarded him and gave him little treats, and I made sure that I was using the high value stuff, stuff that he wasn't always getting when mom and dad were around, so that he equated my presence with something really, really tasty and really we also did other fun activities as well. And then subtly, he started doing that Labrador nudge, where he would come up, and he would nudge my hand with his nose, and I would pet him in a very. Very, very benign location, like over his shoulder blade or on the front of his chest. And I would pet him for 1.5 seconds, really a miniscule or period of time, and then I would move away and stop. And that allowed him to really think about what was going on and realize that the control was in his hands. He had the opportunity to move away if he chose to, or he could stay and engage and get more attention. And we've done a little bit of both now. His duration is much longer. He actually loves being petted by me, and in fact, sometimes he's just about sitting on top of my lap and sitting on my head. And learned is that I'm not going to do anything that you don't feel comfortable with and that I'm going to accept your boundaries always, and I'll never cross that line.
Collin Funkhouser 15:53
Yeah, and that's but that's hard, though, because a lot of us who are doing pet sitting and dog walking, we may only have, you know, 30 minutes at a time. So what? What you know? What are things that we can do in that really brief period of time where I'm over here, Max, maybe they've booked an hour with me to work with a pet that's exhibiting some of the FAS, you know, that you're talking about here.
Melissa Spooner-Raymond 16:18
Yeah, great question. So I'm always examining my needs versus wants. So what needs to get done, what is a must have, and what do I want to do? Well, maybe I think about things a little bit differently. This is a dog that needs to get exercise during the day. Does that mean that I take him out on a walk, and maybe the walk is not a very good experience for either of us. He's frightened. There is that terrifying bag that's blowing in the air. There's one of those inflatable decorations in the lawn. There's somebody that's walking another animal. I'm behind him, and it's just an all over bad experience. So if he needs to get exercised, maybe we do something different. Maybe we play some brain games and and in the house, maybe I hide some treats around for him, or I get one one of those food puzzles out, or maybe I give him a stuffed toy, like a Kong or a freeze bone or any one of the other available toys, or maybe I toss the ball for him. Maybe I play a toy with him. So I'm still going to get some exercise in for him, but I'm changing up the look of it so that his experience is better.
Collin Funkhouser 17:42
Have you heard of time to pet? Susan the pet gal, has this to say,
Susan M. 17:46
time to pet has helped us grow exponentially. We believe the platform's features make us by far more professional than other companies who use conventional dashboards. They are the software gurus constantly developing and improving the platform based on user feedback. This decision was a good one.
Collin Funkhouser 18:03
If you're looking for new pet sitting software, give time to pet a try. Listeners of our show will save 50% off your first three months by visiting time to pet.com/confessional Yeah, I love it because you said the initially, you know we have this immediate need for us to like, must pet dog, must engage. Now here my hands are out. I'm coming for you because I just love animals. Because I'm a pet sitter and dog walker, I've got to do this. And when we come out like that, that's, that's, that's an intensity level that a lot are actually way more, way less comfortable than we realize. And so to really take that moment to pause and go, what's the dog telling me? And then I love how you said, assess the needs versus wants. What's the number one goal of this visit we have, we have a client. Who it was, it was potty break. It wasn't exercise, it wasn't enrichment, it was potty break. Okay, so we've got a chow that doesn't like new people. How are we dealing with this? What can we get first? Can we get in the house safely? Can we get into the backyard without having to, you know, put a leash on the dog? Oh, also, we learned he's very treat motivated, and loves cheese. Ding, ding, ding, okay, we're in. And with him, actually, with that Collin, he was really anxious around the door, and knew people around the door. And so what we started to do is we trained all of our staff to sing the same song as we came up to the door. So even before we're in the home, he knows it's somebody that he's he's trusted and has experience with before. So kind of even this pre priming of what can I do before even walk through the door to help make this a success? And then we have to define what success actually is, because is it me laying on the ground smothered in puppy cuddles and Kitty kisses? Well, maybe eventually, but right now, I'm just working on building trust and lengthening that amount of time. Like you mentioned, we've had dogs where it's like, Hey, we've been working with you for two years. You used to bark for 27 minutes of the 30 minutes, and now you're only on. Alert for like, seven minutes. Wow. What a massive increase that we've had here and and, you know, a much better experience for everybody.
Melissa Spooner-Raymond 20:09
Yes, you said so many wonderful things. So I always talk about journaling and that being the not so exciting side, or the not so glamorous side of animal care and animal behavior, because we need to remember where we came from, how we started, and where we are right now. And you just gave in a great example of we started out at this time interval and we ended here. Well, naturally, all people forget over a period of time, but when we put pen to paper, that's a great record that doesn't forget, it doesn't lie, it tells the truth. And so I think it's really, really valuable to take notes, but I also, in those notes, want to make sure I either have a pre questionnaire for the client that I'm working with, and I want to make sure that I have information down, such as, what foods the animal may be allowed to have. Are they allowed to have kind of a splurge day like we would have as people, where maybe these are items that they don't get every single time, but we create a special occasion where we show up with something wonderful in our hands, and make sure that we make some notes of that, or we communicate that to the client as well, that their pup had something extra special today. So we're going to watch for any sort of intestinal upset, just in case it does happen. Now I will let you in on something that I do, and this is veterinary based, but this will also give you an idea of what we could do in this situation. For pet sitters as well, I have a dog that also has a very small tribe. Now. She's at a point in her life where she's 14 and a half, and actually her tribe has grown, and in her tribe now is her veterinary team. Part of that reason is because before I go for any veterinary visit, we stop off at McDonald's and I get two plain cheeseburgers, so it's meat, cheese bun and a 20 piece McNugget. And you go, wow. What are you doing to your dog? Well, once she was afraid to walk into the Veterinary Clinic. Now she goes bounding in, and when we're in the exam room, she goes through her whole role of behaviors on cue. She's sitting, she's lying, she's giving pause, she spins because she knows that during that time, that's the only time in the course of a year that she's going to get some yummy McDonald's. She'll do anything for it, and she shows off for her VAT team now. And so we can do the same thing. We can create the same experience. We might bring something like a hamburger patty or some real chicken. We can get a rotisserie chicken and debone it and save that in little bags and freeze it and bring it with us, because it smells so yummy. I think that's how they get us to buy it in the grocery store, because it smells so, so yummy. So we bring that with us and dole out some chicken and some cheese. And it's a really, really special occasion, something that they may not get all the time. They may not get when mom and dad is around, but when they have the stranger coming into their home, we start to build this association when you show up and you sing your song and your song, this is some advanced level behavior that you guys are doing because you have taught this dog a cue. It's just like us hearing that sound cha ching. You know your bank account is going to get a little bit fatter, and this dog knows that when you guys show up and you sing that jingle, they're probably going to dole out something really good, and I'm going to have a good experience. And that's the idea behind our care that we're giving.
Collin Funkhouser 24:12
As soon as that door pops pops open, it was the song was like, hey there T bone. Hey there T and as soon as we ended with T bone on the last one, we'd open the door and a bunch of treats just like shower down like confetti. So it was like, boom. And then it did two things for us. One, all of his attention was directed down to the floor, and so we could come in. And then two, it was, hey, I this jingle. I get treats that I love whenever they come in through the door. And man, it was a it was an interesting thing for us, because I know for like, our model of how we run our business, we don't do a one for one, where one employee gets one client, everybody is able to do all of our clients. And so having these standardized like, here's what you do with this particular pet, and here. Here is the SOP for how we follow this create a lot of predictability. And the dog knew like there was a strict routine that everybody was trained on. So it made it a lot easier. When somebody was sick or somebody was out of town or took a day off, we could take a team member and put them on that visit and have them okay, here's what you do, step 1234, and it made it a lot easier to then continue these visits. And can you continue this care that the client really needed us to do that? If we didn't have that, they would have been left, you know, kind of wanting for services.
Melissa Spooner-Raymond 25:34
Yes, I love that. And what you are talking about is this consistency across the board, and it's almost going to sound like I think I'm promoting McDonald's right now, because I'm going to give another example.
Collin Funkhouser 25:48
I'm taking notes that's fine. Just what's the order this time?
Melissa Spooner-Raymond 25:51
We want to know that no matter where we go, a Big Mac is a Big Mac. Whether I'm here in Michigan or I'm in California or Colorado or New York, a Big Mac is a Big Mac, and you know exactly what you're going to get. I love that everybody on your team is doing the exact same thing. So no matter what, you're going to get the same consistent level of care. And that's one of those things that fear free offers. We offer this language that is universal across all of our all of our certifications, across all of our professionals. We all speak the same language. We understand how to read each species in their body language, and we also know how to provide that same level of care, whether you are an animal trainer, whether you're a pet sitter, whether you're a groomer or a veterinary professional, we all speak the same language, and we can help that animal very much in the same way.
Collin Funkhouser 26:54
So let's throw out a few examples here. Let's say we enter a client's home and that dog is immediately on an on the on an elevated scale, you know, maybe on a three or four. And how do we start that process with that? Yeah, yeah.
Melissa Spooner-Raymond 27:13
So you giving that number, saying that he's a three or four, for those that don't know we're talking about fear, anxiety and stress that FAS scale and we typically associate it again. This is our consistency across the board. This is our fear free language with a score. This tells us that they may be starting to react where their body becomes tense, maybe have a focus steer. Maybe they're very stiff or not moving. Or maybe they're slowly moving away. Maybe they don't want to approach us. Maybe they're starting to give some subtle vocalizations, like a low growl or a change in their facial expression, and that gives us this information that says they're not comfortable. Actually, when I approach dog and they are barking and growling, do you know what I say? I say thank you. Thank you so much for this information. Yeah, I'd much rather have a dog that is willing to share that he's uncomfortable with me, then what the opposite is is, and you've probably heard this as a professional, that animal bit out of nowhere, and more often there than not, there are signs that we're not necessarily good at or have been equipped with the tools to read and interpret, but that's what fear feet does. If we understand those signs, what they're doing with their body to tell us that they're not comfortable, then we go, okay, I appreciate that. Thank you very much. I'm going to take some steps to make you feel a little bit better. What can I do? Maybe I can approach sideways so that it's a little bit less threatening. Maybe I can crouch or kneel. Maybe I go sit in a chair that's very kind of localized and out of the way. Maybe I toss some treats, and even if I know that they're so frightened that they're not going to eat the treats, it's still a peace offering. I am giving you the stack of $100 bills. This is my peace offering. You choose to do with it what you would like, and we'll go from there. So that all is information for me, I think in general, and I think over a period of time, we have been taught, as society people, as in society, that a dog showing these signs, vocalizing, barking, growling, baring their teeth. We associate that with being mean and really. We start associate that with being frightened when the hair goes up on the back of their neck, maybe on the back of their rump or over their shoulder blades. That's the equivalent of US feeling those prickly hairs on our arms and on the back of our neck when we start to get aroused and we're a little bit frightened. I also believe that that growl is the equivalent of US crying, crying for help that says, really, I need a minute. I'm not comfortable right now. It's a stop sign in our face that says, stop what you're doing, assess, reevaluate and determine, again, those needs versus wants and how we can approach and make this comfortable.
Collin Funkhouser 30:48
When you said, Hey, I need a minute, sometimes it's just, I need to wait. I need to give more space. I'm going to go around long ways over here. I'm going to give wide birth, you know, around this to give that space and time, and continue to observe and see how things are going. And then, really importantly, again, the language is so important and critical here, especially when we're working with the owner, giving them good language of what we're seeing, reporting that to them. Because we have certainly had clients come to us and say, Oh man, my dog is just so mean to new people, or my dog has been called aggressive and just, okay, cool. I know you've used that word. Tell me the behavior, or tell me the situation where, for why you're using that and nine out of 10 times, 10 out of 10 times. For some periods, it's like, oh no, your dog was just scared. Or the reason your dog bit the kennel tech is because they opened the door and shoved their hand in and was trying to drag the dog out, right? Hey, we're not going to do that. Here's some other examples. You know, here's some other things that we can do, but just having that language and giving that to the client, because that's a gift to them, when they can take that and use that same language with a groomer, with a trainer, with whatever, like that improves it for everybody. And just taking that time to really observe, like, that's one of I know I just view a lot of what we do of going we do a lot of observations. We have a lot we have a time limit and time window. But all the while we're there, we're watching, we're taking notes, we're documenting the progression of this and how things are going to give that to the client, and then we have that for the next time that we come in, so we know what we're starting with.
Melissa Spooner-Raymond 32:27
Absolutely, I really find, like we talked about before, that document, documentation is such a valuable tool. Again, is it the sexy part of our job? It is not. Nobody likes to sit down and take notes, but if we can quantify that, the FAS score was a four when we walked in, maybe it was even a five, which is as high as the scale goes. And when we went and we got a toy, and it was a squeaky toy, and we started playing and tossing the toy, then it went down two or three or four, and after about 15 minutes of being there and playing, it went down to a two, and then you were able to get him on his leash, and he went for a walk, and it decreased further. We like to see those trends, and we know that there's going to be some ebbs and flows, and there's not necessarily going to be one FAS score per visit, because behavior changes. It's very fluid. So there's going to be some ups and downs. There's going to be things that just like us, they do not feel comfortable with and they may not like or may not appreciate, and the FAS goes up, and then we do some cool, fun stuff, and it's going to go down again. Yeah.
Collin Funkhouser 33:40
Well, okay, so that's inside the home. Let's say where the client has asked us the need is, we need to do a walk with this dog. And we get out and they're exhibiting again, excuse me, they're kind of they're freezing on the walk right now. And whether we've made it to the end of the driveway or we're way into the walk. What are some approaches that we can do at that point? Yeah, so
Melissa Spooner-Raymond 34:05
first, before we go on that walk, we want to make sure that that animal is very secure, and that might need to be a conversation that we have with client before we actually leave the house and we take them out on a walk, is assess the tool that they're walking with because if we have a frightened dog and they dash out of that tool that we're walking on, maybe it's a loose fitting buckle Collin, they slide and they slink out, it's going to be very hard for them to feel that trust to be caught again. So we want to make sure that they are very secure. I always bring my three favorite F's, and my three favorite F's are food fun and favorites. I want to make sure that I'm able to reward and distract with something awesome, like that chicken or some cheese. And maybe their anxiety is so high that they're. Not willing to eat, but I can definitely do something fun like pull out a tennis ball. We got a good lab, we got a Border Collie, we got a shepherd. I'm going to pull out a tennis ball from my pocket, or maybe one of those tug toys, and I'm going to strike to try to get their attention with that, and reward them with that, and kind of bounce it around and see if I can distract them and move them along with that type of tool. And if all else fails, I use something like a favorite and again, this is going to depend on the dog. My fingers are always with me. So if they love having a scratch behind the ears or under the chin, my dog at home, my 14 year old that I talked about, she loves chin scratching. She will just torque her body in all sorts of positions just to get some chin scratchings. And so I use that for one of my reinforcers on the go, I look in my pockets and I realize I don't have food with me, but I've got my fingers, so I'm going to do some chin scratchings. I'm going to do some scratchings over her bump, or maybe on her ear, and I'm going to use all of those tools. I'm also not going to do anything where I put them in harm's way. Maybe I'm going to select an area or a street where there are less distractions, there's less foot traffic, there's less dogs. You know about those dogs that you're going to be passing in the yard, and they're going to be barking, barking, barking, and that's going to be very stressful for another dog. So can we avoid that street and maybe choose a different path to go? Can we get in our car and go to a park that's not very public, and maybe we do our walk there so that they can get their exercise in and feel more safe, also making sure that if we have to take them out on a walk, it's truly, again, a necessity, and if it's not a necessity, maybe we communicate that with our client that this is actually making the behavior worse. We're making them more frightened over a period of time, and we're not finding the benefit in this.
Collin Funkhouser 36:59
Yeah, well, and those tools are so important, because I know many times we just click the leash and we get out, and all of a sudden we're left going, oh no. Now all I have sure I've got fingers. A lot of people resort to snapping to get attention, or kind of maybe raising their voice to get attention, to divert them away. But if they're already in an overstimulated environment with lots of noises and cars and other dogs barking, and now we're yelling and snapping at them. This is helping no one. And so finding something that is completely unique to that situation and novel and is that favorite, or whatever that is for them going no this. This is now worth looking over here. This is now worth redirecting and going in a different direction without elevating them further in that scenario,
Melissa Spooner-Raymond 37:43
yes, absolutely. And distance is always going to be our friend. So how far can we get away from that stimulus that's causing that arousal? I've been known to hide behind some trees and also behind some parked cars and even a mailbox. If I can pull it off, I can, if I can, block the view from what is causing that arousal, that might give an animal a few minutes or few seconds to adjust, take a deep breath, get some rewards. And the sneaky thing about doing some rewards is that it typically decreases that fear. And that other thing that I really like using is something that's lickable, because the action of licking decreases anxiety. So can I use some peanut butter that they have to slowly lick out of a Kong? And I realized maybe I look a little bit crazier than the average person walking down the street with all these things in my pockets, but I'm also the one that's getting the behavior that I want. So I think it's worth it.
Collin Funkhouser 38:43
We worked with the client. Talk about the lickable. We worked with a client to have a really long wooden spoon. And before we would leave, we'd take that spoon, take a big scoop of peanut butter out of it, and we'd carry it around like a peanut butter magic wand, and anytime that dog, you know, and then boom, that wand went right in front of their face and lick, lick, lick, lick, and we're moving, and we're going this way, distract, distract, and then it would disappear. And then next time that happened, boom, right in their face. But I just you talked about looking weird, like it's, it was a ridiculously long spoon. I don't know where they found this, but it was just like it was, we were the peanut butter fairy walking through the neighborhood. Absolutely.
Melissa Spooner-Raymond 39:20
I love that. I have been known to use one of those expanding fly swatters that you know has the extending the wand, because you can smear something sticky like squeeze cheese or peanut butter on that and allow them to lick bonus points if you put that spoon or that fly swatter in the freezer first, because they can't grab big blobs off of the bin. They can only lick and lick very calmly, and again, that's going to start to soothe them and make them feel a little bit more comfortable.
Collin Funkhouser 39:52
We recently had a client contact us, letting us know that a long time pet had passed away, and it's moments like this. Where finding the right gift can be hard. That's where pet perennials comes in. They make it easy to send thoughtful, sympathy and milestone gifts with handwritten card, colorful gift wrap and shipping included just a few clicks and we had a special gift sent off just to them. You choose the gift they handle the rest. Sign up for a free gift business account and get discounted pricing with no fees or minimums. Just use as you need learn more at petper deals.com this these techniques and these practices, you know, they you talked about. Maybe we're looking weird. We may sound weird to clients. This is not well known for a lot of the clients or people that we work with. So how do we deal with people who are skeptical of this, or maybe just want to we have certainly had clients who said, I don't care what it takes to do get my dog on the walk, and they want to the just make it happen. How do we work with those clients? Or start talking to people who may be skeptical of what we're doing here?
Melissa Spooner-Raymond 41:08
Yeah, so as we talked about, really, the core of fear free is all about education. And while we are educating other professionals, I think those professionals need to educate the clients that they're working from with. They may not be receptive to the care that you want to give focusing on the well being of the animal, because they don't know the value of it. They don't know the science behind it, and it's not something that they've ever relied on before. We've always, quote, unquote, done it this way. It's always worked. Why do we need to do it any other way? And you can be very honest and very transparent and say, Listen, these techniques are still somewhat new. They're still somewhat in their infancy. They have been developed over the last 10 or 15 years, and we're starting to see the greater value in in this type of pet care. We're also starting to see the lasting effects. And I want to treat your animal no different than what I treat mine. I want to make sure that his experience with me is going to last, last him a lifetime, and so I know by modifying how I do things and not just relying the relying on the old get it done philosophy, if I take my time, take a slightly different approach, we're going to be at a greater standpoint years from now than having a deeper problem that requires more work,
Collin Funkhouser 42:41
yeah, getting them to see the long term implications of it. And we've, we've certainly just had to say things like, Hey, give us, give us a week of visits, right? Here's what we're going to do. And that's where that, again, we're linking back to that documentation phase really helped. Here's where we're starting. Hey, here's all the photos I took your dog on the walk using your method. See their body language, see their behavior. See this video now is here when I introduced my my three Fs, or you know what I learned from Melissa? I brought my three Fs today. Now look at your dog. Look at what we were able to do today. And really it's a show and tell kind of experience with your clients, of what you're able to do, and focus on that long term aspect.
Melissa Spooner-Raymond 43:20
Yeah, absolutely. And I really think that the more people understand the value, it makes sense to them, something clicks, and they go, Oh, okay, I don't know why I've been doing that all along. The other piece is that I think in this space, there are so many people, so many pet owners that are specifically looking for fear free certified professionals and people that give this level of care, that if you encounter a client that really doesn't match your expectations, and they don't see the value, they may not be a client that is good for You, and it may not be a matching relationship, they may decide to go another direction, and that's okay, because we know that we have plenty of clients that are begging for fear free professionals in their area,
Collin Funkhouser 44:13
and they might not be using that language fear free or looking for fear free certification, but when we explain to them what it gets them and how we operate. I mean, we, as soon as we start talking about that language to clients, they go, oh, yeah, yeah. I want Yes, yes. What is that? I want that? And that's what people are looking for. They're looking for something better. And I think that ultimately, what this boils down to of they are, it's for how they view their pets. Our clients are more knowledgeable than ever. They've got, they Google a lot, okay, right? They're looking for stuff. And when we can't come alongside them and really work in a partnership, then I know that's what we look for. Is like, Hey, are you? Are you looking for a partner in your pet? Because that's, that's what we want to be for you. And that includes, that includes a larger team of groomers. Veterinarians, trainers, how can we, as pet sitters, you know, in build that collaboration for that full, you know, care team for that pet?
Melissa Spooner-Raymond 45:11
Absolutely so one of the things, there's so many things that I love about fear free, but we actually have a community page that's specific to our audience and our members, and we often find lots of collaboration between those veterinary professionals and pet professionals as well. And currently, what we're doing is we are developing an online directory it was there previously. It's getting better and better so that you can find professionals that are like minded in your area, and you can ultimately build a team. I also recommend that pet sitters and other professionals seek each other out, so maybe go to the fear free local veterinary practice in your area and drop off brochures. Let them know what you're doing, let them know the philosophy behind your work, so that they're going to select you as a possible candidate to care for their patients, because they're ultimately going to be the one who recommended you. They want to hear from their clients that you were a great pick and so they have a great experience with you. And maybe you team up with some trainers as well, team up with some groomers as well, and you start to create this new team of experts that are all like minded individuals.
Collin Funkhouser 46:39
And then that way, when you start having issues or concerns, you can all be on the same program for a particular pet, it's much easier to communicate when you're using the same language and you understand what the common goal is. It really improves that care aspect, just immensely, absolutely. Now, as far as the course, specifically, I was curious, Melissa, what are the specifics, or maybe, what's the process for becoming fear free certified? Yeah.
Melissa Spooner-Raymond 47:09
So what I like about it is that it's very self paced, so professionals who are busy, they have a lot of things going on, like you and I, we wear a lot of hats, and so how do I get another thing accomplished? Well, fear free is all online based, and it's a self paced course. There are voice over slides. We can dial in as long or as short as we would like to to take the coursework. Now, in hours, we estimate that it's going to take somewhere between six to seven hours to work through. But it doesn't end there. That's just the core curriculum of the pet sitter course. Once you are through that and you earn your certification, we want to make sure that you maximize the benefits of your membership. That means go through our course catalog, because we offer lots of other courses as well that are supplemental, that talk about fear free in more depth and fear free in different training avenues as well. Because we want to build that ultimate success, we also want you to take part and things like those communities where you can speak with other professionals and you can brainstorm. I love a good brainstorm. So you can go in, you can ask a question, Hey, I've had this scenario happen with a dog that I've been pet sitting for, and you have everyone from a groomer to a veterinarian to a trainer, chime in and give you feedback, and there's great collaboration, and we all support each other as well.
Collin Funkhouser 48:51
Yeah, I know it's always nice. You guys have some really specific things of fear free with insert basically any specific scenario you could come up with. I know, like, we had a, we had a string of very geriatric pets coming into our business, and we realized, like, oh, we need to learn more about specifically what that means for them. We've got our general practice and how we operate, but like, let's, let's dive into here. So, no, it's a kind of a never ending process, as you encounter new things. But that's the beauty of it, of we can have those resources. And who doesn't like learning it's always fun.
Melissa Spooner-Raymond 49:30
Absolutely, absolutely, I think of it kind of like being certified in CPR. It doesn't stop with one certification. You get it and you go, Well, I never need to learn that again, we're all from there. This is something that you are investing in your personal success and the success of your business. We want to make sure that you stay on top of all the new, exciting education. We're constantly developing new content, and there's going to be updates. Of the materials that we work through, there's also going to be updates to procedures. So what we may have understood in 2016 might be different than what we understand now. And so we want to make sure that our members are aware of those new developments. And as you mentioned, things like dogs with cognitive decline or working with animals that have medication needs. Again, those are courses that we offer, but we're constantly calling on our community and saying, What do you want to learn? Is there a topic that we have been missing the mark on? You want to learn more about babysitting reptiles? Okay, you let us know that, and we're going to develop a course around that. So we welcome that feedback.
Collin Funkhouser 50:43
Well, I know one of the really big changes, covid, obviously impacted a lot of things, and one of the things that we're just we're still feeling the effects of covid, is talking about this newness to the industry, is a lot of shy under socialized pets. What are some things that we need to be aware of, or, you know, strategies from a fear free perspective for working with those kind of pets in our in our businesses. Yeah.
Melissa Spooner-Raymond 51:09
So typically, what happened with covid is that we were all safe and sound in our homes, and our pets didn't get that socialization in the ideal window. So the good thing is that a lot of cats and dogs were being adopted during that time. People were home from work, they decided that they they had more time to spend with a pet. They adopted a pet. But those social aspects that we take them out and we let them meet different people with different smells and different gates and different hats and maybe mobility devices. They miss those experiences, and so they might be frightening this time around. So we want to do those experiences very slowly and integrate them one at a time. Also integrate them from a distance as well. So maybe they see a gentleman using a walker from across a park. We don't necessarily want to approach that, and that's most appropriate for that gentleman and the animal as well. We want to make sure that they feel comfortable and that they have just that time to look, assess and determine, is this a friend or a foe, and decide what they want to do, do they want to move forward and they want to investigate, or do they want to move away? Or have they decided this is something neutral? Doesn't really mean anything. I don't need to be involved, and I'm going to get out of here, right?
Collin Funkhouser 52:34
Taking taking that time and us recognizing this isn't going to be a one walk fix kind of thing. I think a lot of that is just setting expectations for ourselves when I'm in there, to make sure that I'm managing my emotions when I get frustrated. The dog did it again, right? I'm we got to walk, and you're stopping again, and I've got to do this again. That's what a lot of times, where we get hung up, where all of a sudden, the practice breaks with with us, and we become inconsistent because we're not in the right mindset, focused on the right goal.
Melissa Spooner-Raymond 53:06
Absolutely, I like to think or remind myself, what is the purpose of this walk? What are my goals, and what am I here to do? Am I here to get my steps for the day? So if my motivation is to get my 10,000 steps in. That may be one thing. If I'm here to give this dog some enrichment and get them out and get some fresh air while his his owners are away. Well maybe I'm going to do something more like a sniff walk. A sniff walk is very different but very enriching for the dog that we're working with. We might take them out, we allow them to decide where we're going to go, and we give them unlimited sniffing ability, which means if they want to spend 15 minutes on a tree just sniffing and sniffing and sniffing, that's enjoyable for them. That's them reading LinkedIn and reading Facebook, getting all of the new messages. Hey, scout was here. He's a golden retriever. He's three years old, and he stopped here for 15 minutes as well. And so that's important information for the dogs to take in, and that might be a more beneficial and more enjoyable walk for them, rather than the goal for us to get our steps in,
Collin Funkhouser 54:21
yeah, and when we have those options, it's easier to switch between them. And I love that. I love when my box of tools, my tool sets are really small. I only have a wrench and a hammer. I don't have a lot to adapt to different things as they're coming along. But when I can expand that and have the full tool set with the little retractable drawers and the hyper specific little wrenches and the little tiny micro, the little small screwdrivers and stuff. Then as the situations change and adapt, I can confidently switch to a new one and know that, like, Okay, that didn't work. I'm just doing this now. It's not that I'm I think what the mindset is, I'm not. Not getting my 10,000 steps in. Hey, I'm on a snafari. Now, that's what I'm doing. We're having a fun snafari And making sure that I'm regulating myself so that I can switch between those as the one that's there for the advocate, for that dog in that situation.
Melissa Spooner-Raymond 55:16
Absolutely, you also want to go back and have those conversations with the client as well, and say, You know what, Snoopy and I tried to do that power walk. I know that he really wanted me to get two miles in each day, but what I have found is that he doesn't do so well on those walks. He's really afraid that the route that you have me going on is something that he doesn't enjoy. He's barking and reacting at a lot of dogs and people that are walking around, but I do go over here to this park, and there's really little foot traffic, and he likes to sniff through all the flowers and the weeds and the trees, and he seems to really enjoy that. And he's tired when we get back, we're only out for 15 minutes, and he's far more hired after a safari than he is for a two mile walk. Are you okay with that? Give them that information and that feedback and help empower them to decide what feels most comfortable
Collin Funkhouser 56:12
for those listeners who are interested in this, Melissa, maybe what's one, one small change pets and dog walkers that listening to this can can make that today, this week, to be more fear free in how they operate?
Melissa Spooner-Raymond 56:25
Yeah, again, I'm going to go back to some of my favorites. So if I had to choose, I would say, stop and assess and watch, watch what that animal is trying to communicate. Do they enjoy this interaction? Yes or no. Do they enjoy me patting them on the head? Is this for me or is this for them? What is their body communicating to me? Also determine whether this is a need versus a want. Does this have to get done today? Is this an emergency nail trim or can it wait? And also, most importantly, make sure that we're incorporating those three Fs that we talked about, food, fun and favorites. I make sure that I'm always carrying those items with me. I have one of those souped up treat bags that I can shove tennis balls and a tug toy and a variety of different treats, from soft stuff to crunchy stuff, and a little peanut butter tube in there as well. And I'm well equipped for anything that's in front of me, so that I can pull it out of my pocket.
Collin Funkhouser 57:30
I love it. The fear free Batman like, hush. Here we go. What do we got?
Melissa Spooner-Raymond 57:35
It's like Mary Poppins bag. I can pull everything out, including a full McDonald's meal.
Collin Funkhouser 57:41
There you go. Interesting Batman and Mary Poppins, both superheroes, it turns out. So that's Melissa. So thank you so much for coming on the show today. I've really enjoyed our conversation and your encouragement for us to do stop, watch and adapt to what's going on in front of us. For those who are interested in learning more, seeking out that more more training, or maybe more resources for their clients about this too. Where should people go for that?
Melissa Spooner-Raymond 58:09
Yeah, so I would love for people to visit a couple of different websites. If you are thinking about being a member, make sure you visit us at fear free pets.com that's where you can sign up for any one of our certification programs. The other is, if you're looking for more client based handouts, or you are a pet owner and you just want to get some information about fear free from a pet owner standpoint, visit our fear free happy homes website as well. Both of those are chock full of information. And one of the things about fear free that I love so much is that we are a community that welcomes everybody. We welcome you with open arms, and we are so excited to have new members join us all the time. Awesome.
Collin Funkhouser 58:56
Well, I will have, I will have those links in the show notes so people can get clicked right to those and on our website as well. Melissa, this has just been an immense pleasure, and I'm so thankful for your time today. Thank you so much for coming on the show. Thank you, Collin, it was a wonderful experience. Fear free practices start just like Melissa said, is when we stop and assess and watch. What is that animal trying to communicate so often, our love for animals makes us want to rush in, but the best care starts with observation. Every ear Twitch, tail flick, subtle shift tells us a story about how the pet is feeling. When we slow down, we can adapt our approach to meet them where they are, turning fear into trust, something that every professional pet sitter and dog walker needs to do. Don't forget, this episode is eligible for one CEU from both psi and naps. Get the link in the show notes to take the quiz and get that certificate so you can grab that today. We want to thank our sponsor. Today, time to pet and pet perennials for making the show possible, and we really want to thank you so much for listening. We hope you have a wonderful rest of your week, and we'll be back again soon. Oh,
